Navrina: A Lorien legacies love story
by Mysteryfanaticno1
Summary: Marina is a senior at LDA and she is graduating this year. She have a huge crush on a boy and would she be brave enough finally reveal her feelings to him. Would she be able to get her happy ending? Would she be able to make some friends this year? Would this be the year that she'll be good as her sisters? Would she finally get a good legacy this year? Read on to find out. MajorAU
1. Chapter 1

******Disclaimer****: I do not own Lorien legacies and this goes for all the chapters of this story.**

******I dedicate this story to all the Navrina fans out there. **

******This is going to be a love story centered on Marina/Eight. In this story the attack hasn't happened and the ten Garde children along with their Cepans didn't escape to earth. Here they all are living in Lorien happily with their families. No character death. At least not Marina and Eight. This story is going to be in Marina's p.o.v. and my main focus is going to be Marina/Eight. Hope you enjoy this story and don't forget to review. **

******If you love this story please check out my other stories too.**

**Chapter 1 **

The alarm goes off and I'm awoken from the peaceful sleep I've been having. I groan and turn off the alarm and turn to my side and close my eyes to get some sleep. I had stay up late last night because we had a party. We were having a little send-off party for me. I think little would be a little inappropriate. There were almost hundred or so people. All of them were congratulating on me for starting my senior year at the LDA today. My hands were sore from all the handshaking and my checks were… I sit up on my bed all of a sudden remembering that I'm starting my senior year today and I have to get. Adel will be here any minute to take me back to LDA. I throw away my covers and I swing my legs around the bed and get up and bolt to the bathroom. I take a quick shower and brush my teeth and change into the clothes my mother picked out for me. My mother and my eldest sister always insist on picking clothes for me although I kept saying them when I get back to LDA I have to wear a uniform. . They believe that if they let me choose clothes for myself I might end up wearing old lady clothes.

Back in the day my mother used to be a fashion diva. Every boy wanted date her and every girl wanted to be her friend. My eldest sister inherited her looks and charms while my second sister inherited my father's qualities. She even inherited some of his legacies. Now she is following his footsteps and she scored a top secret LDC job right after graduating LDA. My dad could not be more proud of her. My eldest sister is dating one of the highest ranking members in the LDC. And me, I didn't inherit neither my mother's looks and charms or any of my father's legacies or intelligence. I'm not smart like my second sister. I swear that sometimes she doesn't even study for the exams but she would still be the top scorer of her class. And to top it off she even graduated early. My eldest sister, well she is not smart at all. She's average according to her report cards. My parents constantly worried about her future until she started dating her boyfriend. I'm kind of in between them. I'm not stupid or anything like my eldest sister. I do score really well at the exams but I have to study hard to keep my grades up. And my mother keeps insisting that I am beautiful. But she is my mother and I think she is supposed to say that no matter how I look. If I am pretty like my mother insists I am how come I haven't had a single date in my life. I swear it is like I'm invisible to boys at the LDA. Well to be fair I think I'm invisible to everyone at the LDA. I have no friends at all at the LDA. My fellow classmates would watch movies or sneak out of LDA to party during breaks and I study during my breaks. I hate breaking rules and at the LDA if you didn't break rules you are not cool. No wonder that I'm a total social awkward.

I hate going there but there is this one reason that makes me keep going there. There is this boy I've had a crush on ever since I saw him at my earth study class. I almost failed that class because I couldn't concentrate on my studies when he is around. Once when we were working on a class project together his knee brushed against mine and a cold chill ran up on my spine. There was this moment that I swear I thought he was going to ask me out. But he ended asking me to pass a pencil.

'Marina, breakfast is ready.' My mother calls me from downstairs. I get my suitcase and look at my room one last time. I won't be here until the quarter moon festival if I'm lucky. I go down three flights of stairs to get to the dining room, my room is on the highest floor of our house. When I get downstairs I see that my grandparents are here.

'Grandpa, grandma.' I say dropping my suitcase to the floor and wrapping both of them in a hug. I lived with them until I went to LDA. In Lorien grandparents look after you when you're young while your parents are out there honing their legacies. I didn't start living with my parents until my first year at LDA. I insisted on staying with my grandparents so much when my parents came to pick me up when the LDA let out for the vacation my grandparents had to come and live with us for a couple of days. I still miss living with them so much.

'What are you doing here?' I asked them.

'We came to see you off.' Grandpa answered.

'We won't be able to see you until the quarter moon festival.' Grandma added.

'Look at you, growing up so fast. I swear it felt like yesterday you were playing with Dusdan.' She says. Dusdan is the name of my grandparents' chimæra. I loved him so much. When I was little I used to play with him for hours until the sun goes down. I miss him too. Unfortunately he died last year. He has been with my grandpa since he was a kid himself and chimæras don't live as long as lorics.

All of sit down for breakfast. My dad sits on the head of the table. My mom sit on left side of him and grandpa sits on the other side. Grandma sits next to grandpa and I sit next to her and my second sister Lira sits next to me. My eldest sister Selina sits next to mom and her boyfriend Sarun sits next to her. And his parents sit next to him. It is tradition for us to have breakfast together before one of us or all of us head off to LDA. Since I won't be able to have a homemade meal until quarter moon my mother has gone a little overboard and made all of my favorite foods.

'So Marina, you'll be graduating this year?' Sarun asks me.

'Yeah.' I say to him.

'So what are your plans for when you graduate? Are you going to follow in your father's and sister's footsteps and join the LDA?' He asks me.

'I haven't decided yet.' I say to him.

'You better start planning your future Marina before all the jobs at the LDC gets grabbed up. If you want I can talk to someone about you. You know as the head of the planning committee I have a big influence in LDC.' He says. No matter what we are talking about Sarun always manages to mention his big job at the LDC. I'm frankly sick of it.

'Marina will choose what to do with her future when she is ready to think about it. And we'll be proud of her no matter what she decides to do.' Grandpa says to me. I could have hugged him then and there.

'But the positions at the LDC…' Sarun says but grandpa cuts him off.

'So what subjects will you be studying this year Marina?' Grandpa asks me.

'I've got Advanced Earth studies, Lorien history, legacy training and combat training.' I say and Selina interrupts me.

'Combat training? What do you need combat training for anyways?' She asks me.

'And I did an aptitude test last year and if I pass it then I'll have an extra subject.' I say to grandpa pretending not to hear my sister. To tell the truth I don't see the point of combat training. Lorien is a peaceful planet, it has been for centuries and we don't have any use for combat training. Some say that they are giving us combat training because of the prophecy. Even I don't believe in the prophecy but I don't say that to Selina because there are four members of the LDC sitting in this table, Sarun's father is also a member of the LDC and all four of them believe that the prophecy is real. I don't talk about it unless I want to get into an argument with three of them and face their wrath. The prophecy is the topic we all try to avoid as much as we can. But it doesn't stop grandpa from asking about it. He is one of the people who don't believe in it.

'Do they still believe in the prophecy? Is that why they are giving you combat training?' Grandpa asks me.

'I don't know.' I say hoping that this wouldn't turn into a some sort of an argument. And that's exactly what happens next.

'Yeah. That's why they are doing that.' Sarun says.

'The prophecy is a bunch of lies.' Grandpa says.

'Now now dad, just because you don't believe in the prophecy it doesn't mean it isn't real.' My dad says and dad, grandpa and Sarun start to argue until their respective partners makes them shut up. I'm surprised that Lira didn't join in the argument. Usually she always defends the stupid prophecy. Oops! I shouldn't be thinking like that around Lira because she has mind reading legacy and I won't hear the end of it.

'Lira, honey are you alright? You've been quiet all day.' My mother says. She snaps awake from whatever daydream she's been having.

'Yeah. I'm fine mother.' She answers. I can tell by her face that she is not fine that she is upset about something. Lira and I are closer than Selina and I. But Lira and Selina are much closer. They were born year apart whereas I was born five years after Lira.

'Were you thinking about a guy? Oh my goodness it was that guy from the Chimæra wasn't it. What was his name?' Selina says tries to remember the name of the guy. Chimæra is one of the nightclubs in the city and since I'm only seventeen I'm not allowed to go.

'I wasn't thinking about a gu…' Lira says but Selina interrupts her.

'Sandor. His name was Sandor. Were you thinking about Sandor?' She asks. There is a Mentor/Tech Cêpan named Sandor back in the LDA. I wonder if she is talking about him.

'Like I told you I wasn't…' She doesn't get to finish because her communiqué starts to beep and she excuses herself to answer it.

'Lira, you know that you're not supposed to answer any calls at the dinner table.' Mother says to her sternly.

'I know mother. But it is work I have to get it.' She says and walks out of the room. Whenever Lira gets a work call she becomes secretive and goes out of the room to answer it. It led me and Selina to believe that she must have a secret boyfriend. We both have been conspiring to listen in her conversation but she always catches us mostly due to her mind reading legacy and partly because of Selina stupidly knocking over something when we are sneaking around. Conspiring to figure out Lira's behavior would be the most quality sister time we spent with each other since she went off to LDA. Lira walks back to the room in a minute.

'I'm sorry mother but I have to go to work right now.' She says.

'Lira Marin Jalord. You are not going anywhere. You are going to sit at the table and enjoy your breakfast with us. Your father been running off to work without having a proper breakfast with his family for years and I'm not going let you do that too.' Mother says. You don't want to argue with my mother when she addresses you by your full name.

'But..mother this is very important.' Lira says.

'This is a very important day for your sister and you are going to sit and celebrate it with your sister.' Mother says and Lira stares at my mother for a minute and sits back on her seat.

'So, how is your work sweetheart?' Grandma asks Lira. Out of the three of us Lira is the only one who has a job. I'm still in LDA so I can't have a job until next year and Selina doesn't work. She hasn't had a single job in her entire life. Either my father or Sarun takes care of her expenses.

'You know I can't talk about my job grandma.' Lira answers. Another mystery about Lira besides her work calls is her work itself. Other than the fact she is working for LDC no one knows what she really does. Even high rank LDC member Sarun doesn't know and I believe even my dad knows.

'What this secrecy about your job? Your father wasn't this secretive when he was working at the LDC.' Grandpa says. My father no longer works for LDC, he retired last year. I know that my mother and he wanted to move to the coastal area of our planet as soon as I graduate and find my own place. There is more added pressure because if I don't graduate this year and find work and find a place to live then my parents won't be able to move to their beach house. Although I doubt that they would be able to move soon because Selina is still living with them. Since in Lorien you can't live with a guy without marrying she won't be able to move in with Sarun. As if Sarun has mind reading he clears his throat to have everyone's attention.

'Hey everyone, I have something I like to ask of Selina.' He says. Okay, but why does he want all of our attention if he want to ask Selina something.

_He's going to propose to her. _Lira says in my mind.

Oh! So when my mother said that today is an important day she meant Selina. Sarun go down on one knee and pulls out a ring box from his pocket. Selina gasps knowing what's going to follow. I may study on my breaks but I have watched a fair share of those earth movies, especially because some of them were study material and in those movies hero always propose to the heroine this way.

'Selina, I've wanted to do this for awhile and I've been waiting for the perfect time to do it. And I can't think of a better time than today being here with our families.' Sarun says and opens the box and inside is the biggest ring I've ever seen. 'Selina, will you marry me?' He asks.

'Yes. Yes. I will marry you.' She answers and he puts the ring on her finger and they embrace.

'Can I go now? I am already late.' Lira asks standing up. My mother nods her head and Lira leaves almost running like she wants to get out of here as soon as possible. Both hers and grandma's eyes are filled with tears and Sarun's mother has a surprised look on her face. I know that Sarun's mother doesn't approve Selina and she hasn't attempted to hide her dismay. Selina is now showing off her ring to my mother and grandma. I wish I had an excuse to leave too. And that's when Adel comes to my rescue.

**A/N: So do you like it or hate it? Should I continue this story? Please review, follow or favorite. **

**Which name do you prefer for Eight? Naveen or Joesph? **


	2. Chapter 2

**First of all I want to thank you for all the lovely reviews. I appreciate them so much. They help me evolve as an author. **

**Chapter 2 **

'I can't believe that you are starting your senior year today. I still remember the first day I met you. You were this tiny little thing. You were running around in your grandparents' yard with Dusdan at your heel.' Adel says to me.

'Now I'm all grown up.' I say to her.

'Is everything alright?' Adel asks me.

'Yeah, everything is fine.' I say sarcastically. But Adel catches it.

'That means something is wrong.' She says to me. Sometimes I think that Adel understands me better than my own mother.

'It's just everyone wants me to make a decision about my future. And I don't know what to say to them.' I say to her.

'You'll know what to do when you are ready. Just don't let them get to you.' She says. Adel has been my cêpan for almost fourteen years and she is like a mother to me.

'We have to make a stop here before we go to LDA. Stay in the egg and I'll be right back.' She says to me and exits the egg. She comes back after few minutes carrying a parcel.

'What's that?' I ask her.

'I don't know. Friend of mine asked to pick it up for him.' She says.

'Is it someone special?' I asked teasing her.

'It's for Sandor. We are just friends nothing more.' She says blushing.

'Are you surrreee? I ask dragging the word out.

'Yes I'm pretty sure. Besides he wouldn't go for someone like me.' She says.

'Don't say like that you are very pretty and he would be a fool to not like you.' I say to her.

'Thanks.' She says to me.

'You should ask him out.' I say to her.

'Yeah I don't think so.' She says back.

'Are you scared?' I ask.

'You know what I'll ask him out if you'll ask Joseph out.' She says to me.

'Why would I ask Joseph out? I'm not interested in him.' I say to her turning my head around trying hide my blushing face.

'Don't you think I haven't noticed missy.' She says.

'Noticed what?' I ask her nervously.

'The way you act around him is a pretty obvious giveaway.' She says smiling at me. Have I been that obvious? I think to myself.

'I think he likes you too.' She says.

'Really? Do you think Joe likes me?' I ask her excitedly.

'Joe huh? I never told you it was him. So you do like him.' Adel says and I start to blush again.

'I-uh-I' I stammer.

'It's okay you don't have to hide anything from me. I know that you like him a lot and I really think he likes you. I think he's just nervous like you.' She says and a smile creeps across my face.

'If I asked Joe out will you ask him out?' I ask her.

'Ask who out?' She asks.

'Sandor. Will you ask him?' I ask her.

'I don't know.' She says.

'Adel…' I say.

'Okay okay. I'll ask him out if you will.' She says. I sit back in my seat and I stare ahead. What did I get myself into? How in the heck I am going to ask him out when I can't even talk right when he is around?

'So how was your vacation?' She asks me. Adel stays at LDA with me and when LDA lets out for vacation she drops me off at my house and then she goes off to enjoy her time off.

'Well, it was not bad.' I say to her.

'Went somewhere interesting?' She asks.

'Not really.' I say.

'Let me guess. I can read you like an open book. And I believe that is how you spent your time, locked inside your room reading books.' She says.

'Not true. Selina and I snooped around trying to figure out what Lira was up to.' I say to her.

'Uhoh! I don't see that going well.' She says.

'Yeah it didn't. Someone without mind reading can figure out what Selina was up to.' I say to her and I tell her about the numerous objects Selina broke while attempting to snoop around. We both laughed so hard my sides began to ache.

'So did you at least figure out what Lira was up to? Adel asks.

'No luck.' I say shaking my head.

'It's probably having something to do with 'The Prophecy'.' She says.

'I don't know. I can't believe that they think the prophecy is real. Who's going to attack Lorien?' I say staring out the window of the egg.

'You are right but let's not talk like this inside LDA. I might even lose my job.' Adel says. We stop at Eilon Park before we go to LDA. It's like a tradition between us. Once we get inside LDA we are not allowed to go outside until the Quartermoon festival. On my first year at LDA Adel brought me here so I could play and have fun for one last time before I get trapped inside LDA. Then she brought me every year and it kind of became a tradition. But instead of playing I sit on a bench and let the sun bathe me in its rays.

'Ready to go?' Adel asks me after a couple of minutes. I nod and get up and we both walk towards the egg. Before getting inside the egg Adel turns to face me.

'Marina, I want you to know that you will do wonders in this year. And no matter what happens this year no matter what you choose to do with your future I am proud of you. I'll always love you.' She says to me.

'I'll always love you too.' I say to her and give her hug. We get on the egg and we head towards LDA.

When we got to LDA I said goodbye to Adel and went to my room. Cêpans and Garde has different sleeping quarters. When I get to my room it is empty. No surprise there. My long time roommate graduated last year much to the surprise of our instructors and mine. So if I didn't get a new roommate assigned to I would have this room all to myself. I hope if I do get a new roommate assigned she wouldn't turn out to be like my old one. My old roommate was a wild party girl. She and a bunch of her friends used to sneak out in to the town at night and go to the nightclub called Chimæra. I have no idea how they managed to get inside the club because Chimæra has a strict age restrictions and our Ids are said to be foolproof. They did get caught once or twice and got punished but they still snuck out the very day.

I put away my things and change into my LDA uniforms. Garde wears blue uniforms and Cêpans wear green uniforms. As soon as I come out of the bathroom someone knocks on my door. When I open the door I see a little girl about seven years old standing in the doorway flanked by two men. I know one of the two men. His name is Daxin and he is a mentor Cêpan here in the LDA.

'Marina, this is Ella Raylan and she's your new roommate.' Daxin says introducing the little girl to me.

'Hi Ella. How are you?' I say to the scared little girl.

She looks up at the man I don't recognize and he nods at her encouragingly. He's probably her Cêpan.

'I-uh…I'm fine.' She says stammering.

'Come inside.' I say and move away from the doorway so she can comein. She comes inside and her Cêpan comes in after her. Daxin stands a the doorway. Ella's Cêpan sets her bags on the floor and extends his hand towards me.

'Hi. My name is Crayton. I'm Ella's Cêpan.' He says.

'I'm Marina.' I say shaking his hand.

'Crayton, it is time for us to leave. We have a meeting.' Daxin says.

'Crayton, don't go.' Ella says hugging his legs. I remember my first day at LDA. I was so scared. Adel kissed the top of my head and said not to be scared. She told me that I am going to have so much fun when my roommate gets here. Couple of minutes after she left my roommate came to our room took a one look at me and she set her bags on her bed and walked out of the room. We didn't have any fun together at all like Adel said mainly because my roommate's definition of fun and my definition of were very different things. We hardly spoke to each other over the past six years.

Crayto drops down to one knee with Ella still hanging on to his leg. He cups her face and wipes away her tears.

'Don't worry El. I will be in the same building and we'll still see each other all the time.' He says to her.

'If we are staying in the same building why can't we stay in the same room?' She asks.

'Because we are not allowed to.' He says.

'But why not?' She asks and Crayton smiles.

'You've got a nice roommate.' He says to her and he asks me "You are a nice roommate right?' I nod.

'I'm the nicest.' I say to her.

'And you'll have way more fun with her than you'll have with me.' Crayton says.

'But…but Crayton.' Ella says.

'Crayton, we really have to go. We are already late.' Daxin says impatiently.

'Just give me a minute.' Crayton says to him. Daxin heaves a sigh to show his frustration.

'Okay El I have to go. You be a brave girl okay?' He says to her and kisses her forhead and gets up to leave.

'When will I see you again?' She asks him.

'You'll see me at dinner. Bye El.' Crayton says to her and leaves. Daxin closes the door behind them. Ella stands there staring at the closed door.

'Do you want me to help me put your things away?' I ask her. She turns around to look at me. Her eyes are filled with tears. She's trying her hardest to hold them back. I give her a hug. She doesn't hug me back at first but she eventually wraps her tiny hands around my back. I break apart and look at her face.

'Let's put away your things and after that I'll show you around. What do you say?' I ask her and she nods her head. So Ella and I start to unpack her bag. I hang her uniforms and she stacks her books and her art supplies on her desk.

'Hey, do you paint too?' I ask her. She nods her head again. She is still not talking to me. Maybe she is nervous or scared or both.

I paint too. Do you want to see my paintings?' I ask her. And she gives me her classic head nod as a yes. I show her some of my paintings hoping that it'll relax her.

'They are beautiful.' She says.

'Thanks.' I say to her smiling.

'Want to see mine?' She asks me.

'Sure.' I say to her smiling again that my plan is working. She shows me her paintings and I have to admit that her paintings are way better than mine and who knows how good her paintings be when she grows up.

'Aren't you a little young to be attending LDA? I ask her.

'I wish.' She replies.

'How old are you anyways?' I ask her.

'Eleven.' She answers.

'You? Eleven? No way.' I say.

Then an amazing thing happens. She starts to grow in front of me. I cover my mouth with my hand in surprise. She no longer looks like a seven year old. She now looks like an eleven year old.

'You're an Aeternus? I thought they don't exist except for Loridas.' I say to her.

'Loridas gave his to me.' She says.

'But why?' I ask her. She shrugs her shoulders to say that she doesn't know.

'Shifting age things must be cool.' I say to her.

'It comes in handy sometimes.' She says and she giggles.

'Come on Ella I'll show you around.' I say to her extending my hand towards her.

'Call me El.' she says grabbing my hand.

'Call me Mar.' I say to her and we both walk out of our room.

'So El do you have any legacies yet?' I ask her walking down the hallway.

'Not yet. Crayton says that I won't get them for a couple of more years.' Ella answers.

'So what are your legacies?' She asks me.

'I have night vision, underwater breathing and healing.' I say to her.

'Those sounds cool. Do you have more?' She asks.

'Adel said that I'll get one more before my master. Adel is my Cêpan.' I say to her.

'Do you have any friends here?' She asks.

'Not really. I'm kind of a loner.' I say.

'Oh!' She says staring at the floor.

'But don't worry I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends.' I quickly add.

'I doubt it.' She says still staring at floor. Before I can say anything to her I see Joe, Joseph walking down the hallway right towards us. I start to panic like every time I see him. I look around frantically searching for an open classroom for us to duck into. Then I see the Lecture Hall.

'Hey El let me show you the Lecture Hall.' I say to her. I open the door the Lecture Hall and run inside dragging Ella behind me. I run into someone walking outside of the room.

'Ooof.' The person I bumped into says. 'Watch where you're going.' That person says and her voice sounds so familiar. So I up to see who it is.

'Lira? What are you doing here? Is…everything alright? I ask my sister.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. **

**Please review...**

**Thank you. **

**~~Mysteryfanaticno1~~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thankyou all for your lovely reviews. I love them all.**

**Chapter 3**

'Everything is fine. Why wouldn't it be?' Lira answers.

'Then what are you doing here?' I ask her.

'Let me show you to your room.' Daxin comes up from behind her and says to her.

'Sure.' She answers and starts to leave with him.

'Lira…you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?' I ask her. Lira graduated from LDA five years ago and once graduated Garde doesn't return to LDA. So her been here surprises me.

'Adel will explain to you.' She says and leaves with Daxin. After they leave bunch of Cèpans come out of the Lecture Hall. Adel is among them.

'Crayton.' Ella shrieks and dangles on his arm. I go towards Adel and take her aside to talk to her.

'What is Lira doing here?' I ask her.

'Do you remember the aptitude test you took last term?' She asks.

'Yeah. But what that's got to do with Lira been here?' I ask.

'Well first of all you passed the test. Congratulations.' She says.

'I passed? I can't believe I passed. That test was hard. But you still didn't say why Lira was here.' I say to her.

'Since you passed you'll be taking a special course and Lira is going to be teaching it.' Adel says.

'What?' I scream and few people passing by turn their heads to look at me.

'What?' I ask softer this time.

'Why would she be doing that? I thought only Cèpans teach classes.' I ask her.

'It is not unusual for a Garde to teach a class. They do it all the time.' Adel says.

'Well I have never taught by a Garde.' I say to her.

'Only special Garde get taught by Garde.' Adel says to me beaming.

'What you mean by special Garde?' I ask her.

'You'll see.' She answers.

'Adel.' Sandor says to her interrupting our conversations. He walks towards us.

'Thank you for picking up that parcel for me.' Sandor says to her.

'Oh. It was no trouble at all.' She says starting to blush.

'Do you want to see my latest invention?' Sandor asks her and she nods her head. Then she leaves with him completely forgetting about me and our conversation.

'Was that your Cèpan?' Ella asks me once they left.

'Yeah.' I say to her.

'She looks nice. Crayton and I are going to get dinner do you want to come?' She asks.

'Sure.' I answer. All three of us head to the Commissary.

The next day I wake up to the sound of my alarm. Ella sits on her bed yawning.

'Do we have to get this early?' She asks me.

'Yeah. We do. Do you want to use the bathroom first?' I ask her and she nods her head. She goes to the bathroom. Until she comes out of the bathroom I make my bed.

'I can't get the toothpaste. It's in the highest shelf.' Ella says coming out from the bathroom. I go in and get the toothpaste for her.

'Thanks.' She says to me. Once we both got ready I helped Ella make her bed. Then we both walked to the commissary to get breakfast. Crayton and Adel join us. Adel's eyes are red like she has cried all night. And her lower lip is quivering like she would burst into tears any minute.

'Is everything alright?' I ask her when Crayton leaves with Ella for Ella's orientation class.

'Huh. Yeah, everything is alright.' She says. But her tone says otherwise.

'Adel, you know that you can tell me anything right? You can tell me if something is bothering you.' I say to her.

'It's Sandor.' She says to me.

'What about him?' I ask her.

'I asked him out last night and he said no.' she says to me.

'It's okay Adel. It's his lost.' I say to her and give her a hug. Fresh tears run down her face and soak my uniform.

'I-I-I thought he liked me. But he said he only likes me as a friend.' Adel says sobbing.

'It's going to be okay.' I say to her.

'I know.' She says wiping her tears.

'Come on. We are going to be late for your class.' She says getting up. I get up too. We walk in silence. I know that she's hurting and I don't know what I should say to comfort her. Seeing her like this makes my heart break.

'Hey, isn't this the forbidden hallway?' I ask her pointing towards where we are going. There is a hallway in LDA and no one is allowed to go there. There is a force field in the entrance of the hallway that prevents anyone from entering. Many have tried to sneak in using various legacies but the end result is the same. They all got electrocuted and got one week of detention. There were many popular rumors about what is in the hallway. But no one really knows what is in there.

'Yeah. Are you ready to see what's in there?' She asks. I nod. I can't believe that I'm going to find out what's in the hallway. Adel walked through the force field without getting electrocuted. I stare at her unbelievingly.

'It's not going to bite you.' Adel says. I walk through the force field and get to the other side unscathed. We continue to walk and Adel stops in front of a door and opens it. We both walk in. Everyone inside the room turn their heads to look at us when we walk in. I recognize some of the people in the room. I recognize Maren and Stanley. They both were friends of my old roommate. And they used to sneak out of LDA to go to clubs in the night with her. Since Sandor is Stanley's Cèpan he is there too. This must be awkward for Adel. I look at her and she attempts a smile at me.

I see another boy I recognize. His name is John and he is standing with his Cèpan Brandon. John's parents are friends of my father. They used to work with my father in the LDC. He's been to our house few times and I've been to his once or twice. He is shy just like me and we have barely spoken a word or two. As I scan the room to see if there are any other people I recognize my eyes catches a glimpse of Joe. I turn my head to confirm it is really him and my eyes aren't playing any tricks. When I see it really is him my heart rate raises a little. He is standing there with his Cèpan Reynolds. He looks really good even in those unflattering LDA uniforms. He catches me staring at him and he gives me a smile. My heart literally skips a beat. I smile at him in return at least I think I did. I have no idea at all. He says something to his Cèpan and he nods his head. Then Joe starts to walk towards me and gave me one of those smiles that just melt you away. I suddenly felt so light headed and dizzy.

'Marina. It's so nice to see another familiar face.' He says and I swear my light-headiness increased by about hundred thousand percent. He seems to be taller and muscular than the last time I saw him.

'Um…Hi.' I said unable to form a sentence beyond that.

'Do you have any idea what we are doing here?' He asks me. Doing what where? What is he talking about? Oh yeah the special class.

'Not really. Adel didn't say anything to me.' I say to him. Wow! A sentence. I'm finally speaking in sentences.

'Yeah Reynolds didn't say anything to me either.' He says.

'Maybe they brought us here to meet the Elders.' I say accompanied by a shaky laugh. He smiled too. And I almost passed out then and there. We both stare into each other's eyes for awhile. Someone clears their throat and Joe turns his head towards the noise.

'Looks like they are starting. I should go back to Reynolds. It was nice seeing you.' He says turning to leave.

'Yeah you too.' I say and curse under my breath for the interruption.

'Looks like that went well.' Adel says from behind me and I almost jump out of my skin.

'Adel…I didn't saw you standing here.' I say to her with a shaky laugh. I totally forgot that she was standing here with me.

'Don't worry. I left when I saw him coming. I wasn't eavesdropping or anything. So what did he say?' She asks.

'Um…he just said hi.' I say to her.

'Is that it?' She asks.

'Since everyone is here we should begin.' Someone says and when I look around to see who it is I see it is Lira.

'Garde please form a line in the front and the Cèpans please stand in the back.' She says. I step to the front and Joe comes and stands beside me.

'Hi again.' He says.

'Hi.' I say laughing nervously.

'That's your sister right?' Joe asks me and his hand lightly brush mine. I think I may have nodded because the only thing I could think was Joe is standing next to me and he is talking to me. I turn my head to look at Joe and he is staring ahead. A hear a door open and I hear loud gasps. I turn my head to see what the commotion is about and I gasp too. Standing before me is eight Elders dressed in their ceremonial yellow tunics.

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**A/N: I hope you enjoyed. **

**Please review...**


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